THE HOLY PEACE OFFERING
Now we come to the last point. The peace offering is holy. This is why the Lord’s table is really a holy communion. We all must be holy. If we are unclean, we must be cut off from the communion and fellowship of the Body. The peace offering was a type, and the fellowship around the Lord’s table is the fulfillment of this type. First Corinthians 10 tells us that the Lord’s table is the fulfillment of the enjoyment of the peace offering, and in chapter five of the same book, Paul tells us that all unclean persons should be put away from the fellowship of the church.
Who are the unclean persons? Paul makes it clear that fornicators are the first ones. Nothing is so dirty and abominable in the eyes of God as fornication. This is a damage and confusion to the proper humanity. It is really unclean in the eyes of God. Those who are involved in fornication must be put away unless they repent and have a real turn to the Lord, applying His precious blood to cleanse away the uncleanness. Otherwise, such unclean persons should never touch the Lord’s table. Paul is even stronger than this. He says that we should not keep company with such unclean persons. Of course, we do not like to have any legal regulations, but many times when I have come to the Lord’s table, I have prayed very much that the Lord would take care of His table. He is the only One who knows the real unclean persons. But we all are responsible to the Lord. It is not a small matter to defile the Lord’s table.
We all must take this matter seriously to the Lord. If we have become involved in some kind of uncleanness, the Lord is merciful and gracious; He is willing to forgive and cleanse us, yet we need to repent. We need to return to the Lord and have a clear dealing and apply the Lord’s blood upon our uncleanness. Otherwise, we are unclean. If we come to the Lord’s table when we are unclean, we do not have fellowship within. Deep within, in our spirit, we are cut off already, because we are unclean or we have touched something unclean. There is some uncleanness upon us. We ourselves may be clean, but the Word says that if we touch something unclean or someone unclean, we are defiled. Therefore, we need to repent, make confession, and apply the Lord’s blood. Some brothers and sisters may become involved in fornication, and if we talk to them in detail about all these things, we too become unclean. We need then to have a thorough cleansing by applying the Lord’s blood.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:21: “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.” “Devils” in this verse means demons. We cannot partake of the Lord’s table and at the same time partake of something of the demons.
It is very good to have the church meetings as a feast for us all to offer something to God. But there is another aspect which is quite serious. We should never come to the Lord’s table when we are unclean. We must be cleansed by the Lord’s blood and have a complete repentance and dealing with the Lord.
In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul speaks of six sinful things that make us unclean, and in the next chapter he mentions several unclean things again. But he says, “Such were some of you: but ye are washed…in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11). So many of us were very sinful, but we are washed; we are cleansed by His precious blood, in His mighty name, and by His Spirit. But if we are still living in some of these unclean things without a real repentance and a real dealing with the Lord, then we are unclean and unworthy to come to the Lord’s table. May the Lord have mercy upon all of us!
(Christ as the Reality, Chapter 19, by Witness Lee)
